The present disclosure relates to patient support apparatuses, such as beds, mattresses, stretchers and the like. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to patient support, communication, and computing apparatuses.
Patient support apparatuses such as hospital beds conventionally have features adapted to provide comfort to the patient, as well as to assist the caregiver in positioning and transporting the patient. For example, such beds can include articulating sections to allow the patient to be placed in a variety of positions, for comfort of the patient and to assist the caregiver in caring for the patient. Such beds might also include electronic displays to indicate the status of the various features of the bed, such as the brake status, the siderail position, and the bed height. Additionally, such beds can allow for communications with remote caregivers.
While such systems can be very useful in assisting caregivers and providing improved safety and comfort to patients, their capabilities heretofore have been limited in some ways. In particular, there is still room for improvement in the capabilities of such systems and the value they provide to hospital workers and hospital administrators. Thus, a need persists for further contributions in this area of technology.